job description

As a veterinarian, I am responsible for everything that has to do with the health of the animals I am treating. A large portion of my work is preventative care: vaccinations; elective surgeries like spaying, neutering, and de-clawing; and giving advice on how to care for the animals. I also deal with health issues ranging from minor cuts, scrapes to infections, coughs, and serious things like surgery and cancer treatment. My job is all-encompassing and there are a lot of things you need to know.

Small animal vets treat dogs and cats as well as birds, guinea pigs, gerbils, mice, rats, rabbits, ferrets, reptiles and birds. Some vets choose to only see dogs and cats. A large animal vet treats farm animals like sheep, horse, goats, cows, etc.

90% of our job is dealing with people, which I think often creates an anticlimax for vets. Probably 100% of people who go into this profession do it because they love animals. However, dealing with people takes up way more of your time than dealing with the animals.

Shelter medicine is a new, but growing field where there is a veterinarian working at the shelter. I believe I am the first vet working full-time at a shelter in New York. Most shelters can't afford vets and I took a big pay cut to come here. I am still in the process of creating my job here. In the past, animals were adopted without receiving any medical care. Now, I make sure that every animal gets an exam before they are adopted and that every animal is spayed or neutered. I can also pick up on things that can be treated. Shelters notoriously have a lot of respiratory diseases, so I brought in medicines that are much more effective for that. We have changed cleaning procedures and brought in leukemia tests for the cats. We now have an adoption room that resembles a living room so potential owners can interact with the animal and bring in their other pets to see how they interact with each other.

education & career path

I think many kids want to be a vet at some point in their life. If you've owned a pet, you would love to be a vet. I never lost that desire, and I just kept going. It is a difficult path and it is becoming increasingly more difficult.

I went to school in England, so my experience was a little different. I had a high school science background, and then I went to school to major in veterinary medicine. It was a 5 or 6-year intensive course geared toward becoming a veterinarian - there was no such thing as pre-vet education. My first couple of years, I took science courses like physiology, bio-chemistry, anatomy, genetics, etc. The last 3 years, I did clinical work with the animals, learning how to do exams, surgeries, etc. I had to learn about both large and small animals.

Veterinary school is very competitive and you need more than just top grades. There are about 30 schools in the U.S. and a few in the Caribbean, Britain and Europe. Some people go abroad because it is so difficult to get accepted in the U.S. Your first degree is an undergraduate degree in pre-vet type courses. There is a highly competitive selection process for 4 years of vet school, and it is a huge investment of about $250,000.

There are many places veterinarians can work. There is shelter work, research and development work for drug companies, government positions within the Department of Health, Department of Agriculture and Department of Home Land security, the military, and teaching in veterinarian and veterinarian technician schools. A lot of human medicines are tested on animals, and vets are involved in that process. I used to work for VCA in an administrative and education position. There are lots of different career paths, but a majority of vets take the traditional path of seeing animal patients.

Vets who graduate from college and go to work in a practice traditionally start out as an associate vet, and then many want to open their own practice. Some will buy out the vet he or she is working with if the vet retire,s or they will become partners with that vet and get a cut of the business. There are other options for those who work in a corporation. There is always a medical director who is the lead vet, and then there are the associate vets. The lead vet is similar to the owner in a private practice.

There are veterinary technicians who act as the vet's right hand. They can do things like draw blood, do certain tests and procedures, and monitor anesthesia. Veterinary technicians are usually people who love animals but have no inclination, resources, etc to go to school and become a vet. This is a 2-year-full-time program or a 4-year-part-time program. Below technicians are veterinary assistants, who do things like restrain the animals, walk, feed and clean them, and help the veterinary technician and the veterinarian. A lot of technicians leave and work in other areas like being a representative for drug companies, because veterinary assistant is not a highly paid job.

my day

I start my day by checking phone calls and lab results from the previous days. I look over records, and check on any hospitalized patients who may need treatment or a daily exam. Once all the preliminary stuff is done, appointments start for whoever is booked for the day.

Animals who need surgery are brought in the morning and are given an exam and pre-medication for the surgical procedures they will have later on that day. How surgery is scheduled depends on the office. Some vets will have appointments with a block of time for surgery and then more appointments. Bigger hospitals may have some vets who just see appointments while others do surgery all day.

Every day is predictable in the sense that I know I will have appointments and do surgeries. Most medical problems are similar, and after a few years you see a lot of the same stuff. However, every day can also be unpredictable. You often see something that you haven't seen before, or you see a different take on an old problem. There is never a dull moment.

Very stressful. It is not just a problem you are fixing, but it is a member of the family and there is a lot of emotion attached to it. In addition, there is usually a significant financial burden tied to the health of the animal, which makes for a difficult combination. This is also a very emotional profession. It is easy to get attached to a patient, and most vets outlive their patients. Veterinary journalists have found that there is a significant number of emotional and physical burnout in vets. We are the only medical profession that euthanizes. All of us have cried with our clients over their pets' passing, and having to make that decision. It can have a long-term affect on you.

Medicine is never 100% accurate, and there is always going to be a portion of animals who don't respond to what you do, and a percentage of those who die. There is a fair degree of understanding people who realize you are doing your best. At the same time, there is a growing part of population that feels if something doesn't go their way, then somebody made a mistake, and that is hard to deal with.

salary & lifestyle

Nowadays, veterinary hospitals are open long hours. Some are open 7 days a week from the first thing in the morning to the last thing at night. Many women can make flexible schedule if they find the right place, and many women even work part-time. This is certainly a profession that has the viability of complimenting a family.

Part of my decision was dictated by mental stimulation, while the other part was dictated by family. I tend to get bored easily and need new challenges. The mentality of vets tends to be someone who wants a challenge. My kids have grown in different stages, and I often followed what my family life needed. Like in any job, if you work for people, there comes a time when you exhaust the relationship and it is no longer going anywhere, either emotionally, academically or financially. Recently, I have begun working as a vet in a shelter because I wanted to go back to basics. Shelters are really just all about the animals.

Compared to other professions with equal schooling, veterinarians are not well paid. Doctors, dentists and even chiropractors probably make significantly more than vets do, and they are all coming out with the same loans. New grads really do struggle financially.

There is a demand for vets and there are plenty of openings. New vets in New York make about $65,000 to $75,000, but it really depends on the region. Also, there is some growth but it is not dramatic. Most experienced vets in New York earn between $80,000 and $100,000 annually. Some vets make significantly more. From my experience working for the corporation VCA, I have seen some vets make well into the 6 figures. Vets in corporations get a base salary, and then get paid more based on how well the business does. Owning a practice is like owning any small business if you are successful. Medical directors at a corporation get a bonus based on how well the hospital does year after year. Specialists make a lot more than generalists, because they go to school for an extra 4 years.

pros, cons & trends

Corporations are going to be more of the future, as you find more women becoming vets. Within the past 20 years, veterinary medicine has grown from a male-dominated field to a female-dominated field. When I graduated, about 25% of veterinarians were female, and now it is beyond 80% women. Women like a balance of career and family, and they don't want the hassle of running a business. Corporations control the management, so vets can focus on the medical issues.

The level of care that is demanded by clients has increased as people tend to treat their pets like family members. Veterinary medicine is becoming more like human medicine. Because there is a segment of the population who wants such a high level of care, it becomes the standard. But this affects people who can't afford to provide that level of standardized care. I think there is going to be more pet insurance in the future. As prices go up and the minimum level of standard care increases, more people aren't going to be able to afford it like they used to, and they will have to rely on insurance companies. This is good for the animals because they are getting better care, but the care becomes less personal.

Corporations have both good and bad effects. Some of the advantages of a corporation are that they can streamline a lot of things. One central place deals with things like payroll and benefits, and corporations can get better deals with drug companies because they are buying in bulk. Also, with the increasing demand for such a high level of veterinary care, the corporation can easily make sure its vets receive continuing education. They tend to spoon-feed the vets new information. Different corporations have different philosophies. Some corporations like VCA buy existing veterinarian offices, while a company like Banfield opens practices within already existing animal businesses like pet stores. From my time with VCA, I think that their hearts are in the right place, and they really want medicine to be good.

In the past, shelters were thought of as a place to drop off animals, and if they weren't adopted they were killed. Now, it is shifting to a more of an adoption focus. I recently went to a convention on shelter medicine held by the Association of Shelter Vets, which was started 5 or 6 years ago. There are now one or two places in the United States that offer residencies in shelter medicine. For me it is like being a pioneer; it's a new challenge. The one thing about shelter medicine is that shelters can't afford to pay vets as well. New vets coming out of school have huge loans, and need to make a certain salary just to get by. I think that in the next ten years shelters are going to go through major change.

My job is mentally stimulating, exciting, and I really get a feeling of helping. There is nothing better than having a sick animal and making it better. I like dealing with the public and forming relationships with clients and their pets. If you love animals, it is great to work with them day to day. They naturally give positive feedback. It may not be the best-paid profession, but you can still do well. If you work full-time, you get paid vacation and health benefits.

Dealing with difficult people is the biggest downside, but I think that is true in any profession. When you see peoples' pets, you can't choose the people you see. It is always hard to deal with angry, difficult and dissatisfied people. It is also depressing when you get less than satisfying outcomes: when animals don't get better, die or you have to put them to sleep. This job can require long hours and be very mentally and emotionally demanding. When you are dealing with the emotions of people's family members, it is difficult not to personalize the situation. Further, your job isn't done after you see your last appointment. There are always phone calls to make, results to give, treatments and research to do. You have to constantly stay up with things and go to continuing education, but it is fun to go to conferences and learn.

advice

A lot. School just gives you the tools that you need to learn on the job. You have all the facts in your head, but day-to-day problems are like working out a puzzle. The more you see problems, the more you become familiar with them and they become second nature to solve. Although new graduates will go through the same steps as an older vet to determine a problem, an older vet usually knows in the back of their mind what the problem is. Older vets aren't finding out what the problem is, but they are proving it. New vets do tests, lab work, x-rays to get information in order to make a diagnosis. Old vets will still run the same tests, but more to prove that they are right.

You have to really want to do it! I have worked with a lot of young vets and many feel disappointed when they realize the job is very different than they thought it would be. Being a veterinarian is not all about the animals- you really need to be able to communicate with your clients. You have to be able to smile when you don't feel like it. You are talking to people with different personalities all day. It really helps if you are a people person. You could be having the worst day of your life, but you have to go into the room and smile, engage the client and convince them that you care about their pet and their pet's problem. You need to have a lot of common sense and be able to read people. You can't be defensive; you have to listen, try to understand and educate people. I have found that most problems arise because of a lack of communication between the vet and the client. If people understand and are informed on a regular basis, they feel more satisfied with what they get.

It also helps if you can think on your feet. People will fire questions at you, and even if you don't know, you need to give them an answer that will temporarily satisfy them. You need to be someone who enjoys the puzzle, because that is what you really are: a detective solving problems and taking steps to find the clues to help you get to the root of the problem. You should also be able to think outside the box, and you can't be lazy. Lazy vets don't make it! If you want to own your own practice, you need to be a little business savvy. Also, you can't mind getting dirty. Blood is the easy part!

It often depends on the town that they came from and the mind set of the people who live there. Income level and education level often have a lot to do with it. People don't understand why it is so important. The less animals that are brought into the world the less there are homeless animals and the less likely they are to be euthanized. The ultimate answer is to have animals fixed. At the shelter we work with cat rescue groups to trap, neuter and return the cats of feral cat colonies in order to reduce the population of stray cats.